


Shooting Stars Are Clichéd

by ofsevenseas



Category: Prince of Tennis
Genre: Angst, Het, Multi, Navel-Gazing, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-06
Updated: 2006-03-06
Packaged: 2017-10-06 09:30:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofsevenseas/pseuds/ofsevenseas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His words are always just a tad insensitive, or maybe just provocative.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shooting Stars Are Clichéd

His words are always just a tad insensitive, or maybe just provocative. When people look at him they see soft browns and pale peach, all mellow smiles. There is a boundary, however, before they witness the only edge he's allowed himself to wield- his eyes. They are not that remarkable, taken out of context, but their clarity astounds in an otherwise vague face.

Fortune has blessed him with impressive charisma, evidenced by the large crowd of fans (classmates, he would amend) clustered around the gates. The meager bits of snow have all vanished, and the freshmen complain about having to do all the cleaning. There isn't much, only a few leaves stuck wetly on the clay.

At the gates he meets someone who is like him, plainish, quiet, brown-haired. There are sighs of jealousy and disappointment as he walks away with her - she does not let them see her own victorious, bitter smile.

\---

On one street corner there is a temple. She wants to go in, but doubts that the kami would be too welcome. To her, and her companion, and the muddled aura they must have. It would be annoying and clichéd and even ridiculous had it not been themselves. Laughable, stupid, and the door has already closed.

\---

Inside the semi-lit room, surgical and off-white from the table lamp, they let loose. Sakuno is the one pinning Fuji to the chair - they both have slight frames, it doesn't matter -

Fuji chuckles deeply in his throat, "So it _is_ the quiet ones you have to watch out for." She doesn't answer, she's never liked the way he teases. His body vibrates with the quietness of his mirth, though he is smug at having scored against her.

_He needs me_, thinks Sakuno, _he's the first person to ever need me_. It is temporary, she knows, but a part of her (the masochistic side, no doubt) does not care so she bends back down and takes to her heart's content.

\---

The next few weeks Fuji carries around Tezuka's disapproval on his shoulders like an overlarge jersey. The heavier his silence the better Fuji plays. He dares Tezuka to look away, to glance at Echizen. Just. Once.

As captain, Tezuka is obligated to speak with him. Fuji's behavior is upsetting the team, even Kikumaru (or especially Kikumaru, she's not entirely sure she can trust Oishi's blustery reassurances). But Tezuka's never been able to control him, and it shows in Fuji's close-eyed smile. They both know that Fuji won't stop until his point is made.

Sakuno is waiting anxiously outside the door; her grandmother had mentioned something might happen today. Of course she is right - Fuji steps outside carefully, shutting the door with a soft click that barely makes a ripple in wake of his silence. His face registers no change; in fact, he looks as though he'd been having fun.

"Sumire-chan wants to discuss something with Tezuka." His voice is directed at a lounging figure, lazy against the wall, sipping his trademark Ponta. Sakuno wonders if he knows half the girls in school drink Ponta because of him. She refuses to do anything that stupid, because the only way to get his attention is to beat him, and lately, the only person who can beat him seems to be the captain.

Sakuno is not, however, going to tell the fangirls that. Let them waste their money and time.

Fuji seems to spare a second's glance at her, but he walks off to the courts. She almost follows, but reconsiders.

This year's team is made up of the junior high champions, once again.

High school hasn't dimmed their edge or enthousiasm. In a way, Seigaku's been lucky- Echizen came back from the US in time for another year of being the freshman starter. According to her grandmother, his father had been furious. But then, her grandmother had said, turning away from the windows, Nanjiroh Echizen became a father far too late for Ryoma to listen.

And that, Sakuno decides, is neither her business nor her grandmother's.

Seeing that nothing has happened and that ranking matches are due to continue, Sakuno goes home. She is involved in the Drama Club this year, with no more pretensions at tennis. Making the costumes for this year's production is keeping her busy enough, especially as the play is only weeks away. It's annoying her that the head producer is so nonchalant about the performance, but the indifference of others is out of her hands.

The third try at making MacBeth's cape absorbs her, so that when Fuji comes in, she does not even look up.

\---

"I highly doubt people would notice that MacBeth has a slightly larger hood. If they notice at all." Sakuno almost rolls her eyes, and settles for a shrug. He always wants to make the costumes look pretty. Fuji's own particular sense of pride wouldn't care if the flimsy material falls apart two days after the play, but they must look perfect. He does, however, have a point. It's a high school drama club production, and no one will be noticing the costuming, especially not with Tomoka onstage.

"You never talk, dear Sakuno." How can I, she thinks, when you take away the words and hoard them for your own use?

He is too close, again. Lately he's been inching near her, the more public the better, which only makes her blush and others turn aside. Fuji always walks away like he owes the world nothing.

Fuji takes the bundle of velvet black cloth out of her hands, "Today was the last day of the ranking matches. The current captain against his former protégé." He looks at her for a reaction.

"Would you like to hear more?" Is whispered into her ear, Fuji's breath tickling at the shell. Sakuno wants to tell him to go away, to take that insidious voice away with him. She knows that Tezuka won, but that Ryoma will win another day. Those two are stuck in their own orbit. Nothing can knock them loose, not even another star.

Pity that this star burns brighter.

\---

He kisses her. She tastes the alcohol on his tongue and wonders how much he's had. He has a miraculously high tolerance for sake, but most of the time he cares about appearing to respect the law. She wants to pull away, but her thoughts drift off to this afternoon's match, Ryoma against Tezuka, and she will not stop for anything now.

\---

The first time they fuck, he cannot help thinking of Tezuka, but it's such a farce already. There is no more that he can do to dishonour her. Sakuno knows this, and cannot care, because she only sees Ryoma.

\---

At his graduation, Sakuno sends him a card:

_Thank you for being honest._

Maybe, Fuji thinks as he crumples the card, there's too much of that going around.


End file.
